Narrator: Michael Rydosz
Let’s see I have to work from this paper. Today is the 9th day of March 2001. My name is Michael Rydosz. I am at 106 Noble Street, Powhatan Point, Ohio 430942-1022. I was born on 10/31/[19]17. I was seventeen years old when I entered the 3Cs in the month of July the year 1935. I served in YNP-7 camp number. Incidentally that wasn’t a YNP-7, that was SCS-3533. My camp was in Hamilton, Ohio. My service at Yellowstone was in 1937 and part of ’38. The camp at Yellowstone was at Canyon Station, Yellowstone.
Oh, boy. My family background? I was a native of America and my parents came from the Ukraine. How many brothers and sisters did you have? Five brothers, six sisters. My level of education was: I completed three years of high school and I completed some courses with Ohio State University. And I completed a course in business administration with LaSalle. I would up with an A-plus average.
Question number four: when did you hear that you were going to Yellowstone Park? Can you recall how you felt about this, being assigned there? It was up in the air kinda, because as we traveled across the United States, we were scheduled to go to Coeur d’Alene in Idaho, but somewhere along the way at Kemmerer, Wyoming, our train was switched to Yellowstone. My first impression was: where are we going from here? We loaded up in trucks and we went to way out in the boondocks. And we were –we went to a tent camp. In the tents, I had four companions. I can’t give you the layout of the camp because I don’t remember it. We didn’t stay there that long; we moved to a military barracks in Mammoth, Wyoming.
Well, we had no baseball diamond, no garden because it was approaching winter and we couldn’t do much good there. I can’t outline any diagram of the camp because we weren’t there that long. My first official job at Canyon Station was: I was a truck driver. I drove a truck from Canyon Station to Gardiner, Montana, to the railroad station there and picked up supplies for the camp. I never had anything specific to the camp because, like I said, I was a truck driver. And when I finished my routine there, I was the company carpenter and helped redo the barracks, the mess hall, the company, the kitchen, the officers’ quarters, and the recreation hall.
I never contacted any LEM’s [local experienced men].
Oh, I liked everything about what I did there. I loved the truck driving. I loved the carpenter work. I also liked what I did after I did the carpenter work: I was company baker and I really, really loved that job.
All my friends were enrollees. Some of them came from Middletown [Ohio], some from Cleveland, Fairport Harbor, and –I can’t recall the rest of them. They were all good friends.
In off hours? I went to school. I was taking a course in photography. I never played in any sports outside of boxing. I can’t tell you any stories about those events. What did men think about the food? Well, there was no commotion; it was usually pretty good. I can’t remember any of the menus, because I was never involved in the menu, but I was involved in baking. As far as making trips to a nearby town, we did that practically every Saturday. It wasn’t much of a town in size. It was only just a few girls there to dance with—only six, I think. So, some of them danced and I didn’t. Do you remember any menus? No, I do not remember. Were there any special meals prepared because of the holidays? Yes, I was involved in preparation of Christmas dinner and all the accoutrements. Most of my addition was cakes and pies and whatnot. Very nice. No one had any complaints about the food. The only one incident was over baked salmon and our cooks never were involved in it. So, the salmon got demolished; it wasn’t very appetizing.
I recollect stories about large animals, bear, elk, bison and moose—there was no moose. I saw quite a few of the animals in the wild. I saw migrating out of the mountains into the lower part of Yellowstone. There were supposedly about 3000 elk in that group, and there was quite a few of them died in transit. When I was driving truck, it was my job to pick up the moose—or elk—and take them to disposal. And the coyotes had a real, real, real good time over that, because you could hear them howl all night long.
During my time in the 3-Cs, I didn’t get any awards. As the war started for the United States, what did you do? Were you still in the 3-Cs? No, I wasn’t in the 3-Cs. I was in the hospital. I was involved in an industrial accident, which prohibited me from entering the armed services. Well, I learned to drive a truck real well. And I learned how to bake. None of them involved my professional life afterwards. But, when I came back, I became a miner—coal miner—and I really enjoyed that.
I’ve never been back to Yellowstone. And what’s the scene of your old camp? How has it changed? Well, it’s disappeared. I was talking to a friend of mine that was also in camp ’44, and he told me there was nothing left there of the old campsite; it was all gone.
One of the nice factors of being in Yellowstone was an opportunity to see all of the beautiful things there: Cleopatra’s Terrace, Devil’s Den, the Buffalo Ranch, the Chocolate Pots. I really appreciated that, being able to see them. I sure would like to go back and see them again.
As I told you over the phone, one of my encounters with a wild animal was my first day at Canyon Station. I was recruited to KP there. My friend and I, Raymond Riley, we were called out of line and said, “Riley and Rydosz, get in the kitchen and clean up!” The cadre had been there for a number of days and they weren’t washing any pots and pans and they were not washing any dishes. So, I got the detail of washing dishes, which I did. And, in the progress of washing dishes, I had to go out to get a smoke. As I went out the door, it was twilight outside. And just as I stepped on the porch, here’s a big black bear standing there. Well, I was already in motion, so I had to go—and I jumped over the top of the bear. And the bear got frightened and ran down through the company street. And I guess he frightened a lot of people on his way. But, he frightened me more than anything else. And one of the funny things about bears in Yellowstone, they were very agreeable to people and we had to put our garbage cans in a concrete block enclosure. If we didn’t, the bears would tear them up hunting for scraps. So, one night, one of the fellas that was in charge of the kitchen garbage disposal forgot to close the gate. And the bears made an invasion. Oh, man, they really had a time. And, one of the bears got in a garbage can and he got to rolling around and rolled down the steps and down the Canyon. Oh, man, he was a bellerpin’ and raising a fuss. After that, they made sure the garbage cans were locked up.
I can’t add anything more. I saw quite a few animals there in my time there. I saw quite a few mountain goats or sheep—whatever they were. You had to watch while you were driving because the elk, they liked pavement, too. If you ran over them, it was tough. So, I had to be careful. I drove several liberty parties to Gardiner, Montana. And during my tenure as a truck driver, I was also an assistant ambulance driver. I made a couple trips across country to Fort Missoula, Montana, and it was winter time and the roads were rather icy. It was quite a time. I also had a detail to drive to Dillon, Montana, to take two dogs to my company commander’s home. I did that and when I crossed the Continental Divide, me and the dogs had quite a session.
Well, I can’t say too much about that, but I enjoyed every day of my time in Yellowstone, YNP-7, Company 544. Thank you!

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Michael Rydosz served with Company #544 of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), stationed at the Canyon Camp (YNP-2) and the Mammoth/Glen Creek Camp (YNP-7). In his interview, Rydosz his arrival in Yellowstone, his various jobs, including driving and baking; Saturday night dances in Gardiner, Montana; and an encounter with a bear. The narrator self-interviewed by recording his responses to a list of written questions. There are thirty–nine photographs related to this interview; they may be found in the Yellowstone National Park Photographs collection.

Transferred from audio cassette using TEAC recorder/player. Edited for clarity using Audacity software.

Date Digitized

2017

Transcript

Narrator: Michael Rydosz
Let’s see I have to work from this paper. Today is the 9th day of March 2001. My name is Michael Rydosz. I am at 106 Noble Street, Powhatan Point, Ohio 430942-1022. I was born on 10/31/[19]17. I was seventeen years old when I entered the 3Cs in the month of July the year 1935. I served in YNP-7 camp number. Incidentally that wasn’t a YNP-7, that was SCS-3533. My camp was in Hamilton, Ohio. My service at Yellowstone was in 1937 and part of ’38. The camp at Yellowstone was at Canyon Station, Yellowstone.
Oh, boy. My family background? I was a native of America and my parents came from the Ukraine. How many brothers and sisters did you have? Five brothers, six sisters. My level of education was: I completed three years of high school and I completed some courses with Ohio State University. And I completed a course in business administration with LaSalle. I would up with an A-plus average.
Question number four: when did you hear that you were going to Yellowstone Park? Can you recall how you felt about this, being assigned there? It was up in the air kinda, because as we traveled across the United States, we were scheduled to go to Coeur d’Alene in Idaho, but somewhere along the way at Kemmerer, Wyoming, our train was switched to Yellowstone. My first impression was: where are we going from here? We loaded up in trucks and we went to way out in the boondocks. And we were –we went to a tent camp. In the tents, I had four companions. I can’t give you the layout of the camp because I don’t remember it. We didn’t stay there that long; we moved to a military barracks in Mammoth, Wyoming.
Well, we had no baseball diamond, no garden because it was approaching winter and we couldn’t do much good there. I can’t outline any diagram of the camp because we weren’t there that long. My first official job at Canyon Station was: I was a truck driver. I drove a truck from Canyon Station to Gardiner, Montana, to the railroad station there and picked up supplies for the camp. I never had anything specific to the camp because, like I said, I was a truck driver. And when I finished my routine there, I was the company carpenter and helped redo the barracks, the mess hall, the company, the kitchen, the officers’ quarters, and the recreation hall.
I never contacted any LEM’s [local experienced men].
Oh, I liked everything about what I did there. I loved the truck driving. I loved the carpenter work. I also liked what I did after I did the carpenter work: I was company baker and I really, really loved that job.
All my friends were enrollees. Some of them came from Middletown [Ohio], some from Cleveland, Fairport Harbor, and –I can’t recall the rest of them. They were all good friends.
In off hours? I went to school. I was taking a course in photography. I never played in any sports outside of boxing. I can’t tell you any stories about those events. What did men think about the food? Well, there was no commotion; it was usually pretty good. I can’t remember any of the menus, because I was never involved in the menu, but I was involved in baking. As far as making trips to a nearby town, we did that practically every Saturday. It wasn’t much of a town in size. It was only just a few girls there to dance with—only six, I think. So, some of them danced and I didn’t. Do you remember any menus? No, I do not remember. Were there any special meals prepared because of the holidays? Yes, I was involved in preparation of Christmas dinner and all the accoutrements. Most of my addition was cakes and pies and whatnot. Very nice. No one had any complaints about the food. The only one incident was over baked salmon and our cooks never were involved in it. So, the salmon got demolished; it wasn’t very appetizing.
I recollect stories about large animals, bear, elk, bison and moose—there was no moose. I saw quite a few of the animals in the wild. I saw migrating out of the mountains into the lower part of Yellowstone. There were supposedly about 3000 elk in that group, and there was quite a few of them died in transit. When I was driving truck, it was my job to pick up the moose—or elk—and take them to disposal. And the coyotes had a real, real, real good time over that, because you could hear them howl all night long.
During my time in the 3-Cs, I didn’t get any awards. As the war started for the United States, what did you do? Were you still in the 3-Cs? No, I wasn’t in the 3-Cs. I was in the hospital. I was involved in an industrial accident, which prohibited me from entering the armed services. Well, I learned to drive a truck real well. And I learned how to bake. None of them involved my professional life afterwards. But, when I came back, I became a miner—coal miner—and I really enjoyed that.
I’ve never been back to Yellowstone. And what’s the scene of your old camp? How has it changed? Well, it’s disappeared. I was talking to a friend of mine that was also in camp ’44, and he told me there was nothing left there of the old campsite; it was all gone.
One of the nice factors of being in Yellowstone was an opportunity to see all of the beautiful things there: Cleopatra’s Terrace, Devil’s Den, the Buffalo Ranch, the Chocolate Pots. I really appreciated that, being able to see them. I sure would like to go back and see them again.
As I told you over the phone, one of my encounters with a wild animal was my first day at Canyon Station. I was recruited to KP there. My friend and I, Raymond Riley, we were called out of line and said, “Riley and Rydosz, get in the kitchen and clean up!” The cadre had been there for a number of days and they weren’t washing any pots and pans and they were not washing any dishes. So, I got the detail of washing dishes, which I did. And, in the progress of washing dishes, I had to go out to get a smoke. As I went out the door, it was twilight outside. And just as I stepped on the porch, here’s a big black bear standing there. Well, I was already in motion, so I had to go—and I jumped over the top of the bear. And the bear got frightened and ran down through the company street. And I guess he frightened a lot of people on his way. But, he frightened me more than anything else. And one of the funny things about bears in Yellowstone, they were very agreeable to people and we had to put our garbage cans in a concrete block enclosure. If we didn’t, the bears would tear them up hunting for scraps. So, one night, one of the fellas that was in charge of the kitchen garbage disposal forgot to close the gate. And the bears made an invasion. Oh, man, they really had a time. And, one of the bears got in a garbage can and he got to rolling around and rolled down the steps and down the Canyon. Oh, man, he was a bellerpin’ and raising a fuss. After that, they made sure the garbage cans were locked up.
I can’t add anything more. I saw quite a few animals there in my time there. I saw quite a few mountain goats or sheep—whatever they were. You had to watch while you were driving because the elk, they liked pavement, too. If you ran over them, it was tough. So, I had to be careful. I drove several liberty parties to Gardiner, Montana. And during my tenure as a truck driver, I was also an assistant ambulance driver. I made a couple trips across country to Fort Missoula, Montana, and it was winter time and the roads were rather icy. It was quite a time. I also had a detail to drive to Dillon, Montana, to take two dogs to my company commander’s home. I did that and when I crossed the Continental Divide, me and the dogs had quite a session.
Well, I can’t say too much about that, but I enjoyed every day of my time in Yellowstone, YNP-7, Company 544. Thank you!